SUKKUR, Oct 15: More than 16-hour-long power outages in Sukkur and its adjoining areas has made the lives of the people as well as the traders miserable while the Hesco authorities are tight lipped over the matter.

The higher authorities of Wapda and Hesco had announced a six-hour

loadshedding in 24 hours and local Hesco authorities also chalked out a schedule for loadshedding in different areas of the city, but the people have been made to brave an outage for 16-hours.

Trade activities in the city have almost come to a grinding halt, as most of the intending shoppers visit bazaars and shopping centers in the evening, but people face the danger of street crimes due to long power outages in evenings and at nights. Not only this, the patients in different private and government hospitals were also experiencing miseries and many a times the hospital managements are forced to postpone operations due to outages.

Whenever an effort is made to contact the Hesco high-ups to seek their views over the outages their cell phones are either switched-off or they do not bother to attend the call, while grid station staff maintain that supply, other than the scheduled loadshedding, is suspended to the grid on the directives of the officers of the RCC and Hesco headquarter to manage overloading of transformers.

Meanwhile, President of Sukkur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shakeel Ahmed Mukhtiar and other office-bearers, have strongly criticised and protested unannounced loadshedding in industrial and urban areas of Sukkur, adding that industrialists were already facing a crisis and due to frequent loadshedding small and major industries were not able to work properly.

They said that the industrial zone of Sukkur was already suffering from different problems and crisis, while flour mills association have warned of a strike which was not a good sign.

President of Sukkur Small Traders and other office-bearers have also criticised hours long power outages. They demanded of the chairman of Wapda and the chief engineer of Hesco to take notice and ensure smooth power supply to the industrial zone and commercial consumers, which ultimately would strengthen country’s economy.

Our Larkana correspondent adds: Political activists, social workers and labourers, while protesting over the prolonged outages, took out a procession in Qambar against “unnecessary loadshedding” by the Hesco.

Nisar Ahmed Ansari, Zulfikar Mugaihri, Allah Bakhsh Jagirani and others led the procession that emerged from Jinnahbagh. Carrying banners, placards and chanting slogans, they assembled outside the local press club. They alleged that 16 hours loadshedding in the town and its surroundings had drastically affected routine life.

The local Hesco people simply come out with an excuse that power was suspended from the higher authorities.

They said that on the one hand the Hesco was sending inflated power bills and, on the other, it was resorting to prolonged shutdown.

Reports from Shahdadkot said that 16 hours loadshedding had become a routine while the local Hesco officers said that they had nothing to do with the loadshedding.

According to sources, there seems no let up in the duration of loadshedding for the coming one or two weeks. The feeders originating from 136 kv and 66 kv grid stations were also affected whereas the situation in villages was worst.